One person dead after Sydney storm; NSW reports record 2,566 Covid cases; Victoria 1,240 – as it happened

Looks like the northern beaches in NSW are copping some rough weather.

Elsewhere in NSW, severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds over the next several hours in parts of the Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, Central West Slopes and Plains and South West Slopes districts.

Meanwhile in Victoria, a severe thunderstorm warning for damaging winds and heavy rainfall has been issued for those in East Gippsland, West and South Gippsland and parts of North Central and North East forecast districts.

And if you want to know what to expect weather-wise for Christmas Day, you can read this piece by Lane Sainty:

Darren Hine says it is too early to say how long the investigation into the jumping castle tragedy will take:

A lot of pieces of the investigation need to be pulled together. We don’t want to rush it but we also understand that the community wants answers. We have lost another life and we’ll need to respect the family and give them space as well.

Asked whether a state memorial will be held, Peter Gutwein says:

I think we need to ensure that our thoughts at the moment with those two children that are still critically hurt and we will work with, obviously, the families, and understand their wishes as well. None of us can understand just how difficult it is for those six families who have lost children.

Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein:

I am certain all Tasmanians share with me a deep sadness and heartache that young Chace Harrison, another child involved in this terrible tragedy, has now passed away. I know that our community, which is so connected, will be deeply saddened for the family involved and indeed all the families of the now six children who have lost their lives in this tragedy. We all feel this terrible loss. To all of the families impacted by this terrible tragedy, we will continue to support you.

Welfare officers were with Chace’s family, the premier said.

Commissioner Darren Hine said the investigation would take some time:

We are working tirelessly with all parties concerned to ensure the extensive investigation is completed as a matter of priority for the coroner. The investigation is being led by Devonport criminal investigation branch, with assistance from officers from Launceston CIB, under the direction of the coroner.

Their priority will be to interview all witnesses, gather and analyse forensic evidence and all environmental aspects, including weather patterns and conditions at the time of the incident.

Given the magnitude of this critical incident and the need to speak to a large number of traumatised children within a short period of time, we have accepted an offer from NSW police to assist in conducting interviews in relation to the investigation.

Four forensic child interviewers will travel to Tasmania today to help conduct interviews with young witnesses over the coming days. It is paramount we don’t pre-empt any outcome until all evidence is gathered and the investigation is complete.

This will allow the coroner to determine the findings based on all the available evidence and facts. Community recovery arrangements are in place, and our thoughts continue to be with the families, loved ones and all those affected by this tragedy.

The loss of six young lives will be felt by our community for a long time – so please take care of yourselves and those around you.

For anyone in need of assistance, there is a range of 24-hour support services available:

• Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800

• Mental Health Services Helpline – 1800 332 388

• Beyond Blue – 1300 224 636

• Lifeline – 13 11 14

Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein will shortly hold a press conference on the jumping castle tragedy on Thursday, in which five children were killed.

Addison Stewart, 11, Zane Mellor, 12, Jye Sheehan, 12, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, 12, and Peter Dodt, 12, died in the incident. They were taking part in end-of-term activities at their primary school when the jumping castle and Zorb balls were hurled into the air by a gust of wind.

Victoria has published the daily chief health officer update:

94.3% of Victorians aged 12 and over have now had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 92.5% have had two doses.

There are 392 Covid-19 cases in hospital in Victoria. This includes 81 active cases in ICU, with 41 of those on a ventilator. As mentioned earlier in the blog, Victoria was notified of 1,240 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday.

All cases were locally acquired except for one case which was acquired overseas. The 10 local government areas with the highest number of new cases are Casey, Whittlesea, Hume, Wyndham, Brimbank, Greater Dandenong, Melton, Moreland, Melbourne and Moonee Valley.

There are 13,093 active Covid-19 cases in Victoria. 76,033 Covid-19 tests were processed yesterday. There are now more than 31,000 active primary close contacts in isolation in Victoria.

There were five new confirmed cases of the Omicron variant identified in Victoria yesterday. The total number of confirmed Omicron variant cases in Victoria is 24.

Of the Omicron cases in Victoria, 16 acquired their infection overseas and eight acquired their infection in Australia.

The Department of Health has been taking a cautious approach to the designation of contacts of known Omicron cases. The department directly advised a number of non-household contacts to get tested and quarantine for seven days if fully vaccinated (or 14 days if not). These settings were applied on a case-by-case basis.

Going forward, contacts in Victoria are now following the standard protocols regardless of variant: household contacts quarantine for 7 or 14 days, but non-household contacts (such as social, workplace or education contacts) are advised to get a PCR test and isolate until they get a negative result.

Cases and contacts can find more information about these protocols at www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/checklist.

A pre-Christmas booster blitz for state vaccination clinics has also been launched. Capacity is being ramped up at state-run vaccination clinics to assist the commonwealth’s booster vaccine rollout before Christmas.

A positive Covid case among a member of the English media is causing some chaos on the first morning of the Adelaide Test, the Australian reports.

Northern Territory police apprehended two young women yesterday evening after they absconded from quarantine in Howard Springs a few hours earlier.

The teenagers from Katherine were nearing the end of their quarantine period and had returned negative test results on their last test. They absconded from the centre at 3.30pm.

Police resources used to locate the pair included a drone, police dogs and CCTV operators. Police apprehended the 16-year-old girls in Bakewell about 7pm and they were taken back to Howard Springs.

As I mentioned earlier Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein has announced masks will be mandated indoors.

At a press conference, Gutwein said masks would be mandatory for all indoor settings including offices, restaurants, pubs, clubs, public transport including taxis and ridesharing, retail settings and supermarkets:

In terms of the mandate, it is a strong recommendation that from today that you start wearing your mask indoors. But it won’t be mandated until Monday night and, importantly, I’d encourage everybody to fall into line with this, do the right thing, and let’s keep our community safe as we move forward.

A light aircraft has crashed off the end of a runway and into the water off the coast of Redcliffe in Queensland.

I thought I’d take a quick look overseas as Omicron continues to spread worldwide.

The Omicron variant has now been detected in 89 countries.

In London, mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “major incident” to help ease the pressure on the capital’s hospitals amid a surge in cases being driven by Omicron. On Friday, Britain reported the largest 24-hour increase in the number of new cases since the pandemic began.

A major incident enables different public agencies to share information more closely but also acts as a warning that emergency services and hospitals are unable to guarantee their normal level of response due to unusual circumstances.

Although there has been some early data to suggest Omicron may cause milder disease than Delta (though there is not enough data to say for sure), what we know is Omicron is definitely highly infectious.

Milder but highly infectious viruses can still cause a lot of stress to health systems if they spread to the most vulnerable too quickly. Even a milder virus can cause severe disease and death, especially in immunocompromised people, or unvaccinated people with co-morbidities.

That’s why governments around the world are moving to slow the spread even in highly vaccinated populations, and even amid suggestions the virus may be more mild.

The World Health Organization said this weekend:

There are still limited data on the clinical severity of Omicron. More data are needed to understand the severity profile and how severity is impacted by vaccination and pre-existing immunity.”

But the WHO warned that with cases rising so rapidly, hospitals could be overwhelmed:

Hospitalisations in the UK and South Africa continue to rise, and given rapidly increasing case counts, it is possible that many healthcare systems may become quickly overwhelmed.

UK scientists have called on governments to bring in restrictions now or face up to 2m daily Covid infections as Omicron spreads. Due to the rising cases, Germany and France have implemented travel restrictions banning tourists from the UK.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands will spend Christmas in lockdown. Non-essential shops, bars, gyms hairdressers and other public venues will be closed until at least mid-January, the BBC reports, while two guests a household will be allowed – four over the holidays.

That wraps up my time on the blog this morning. And that’s my last live blog for the year! Thank you so much for joining me on Sundays over the last few months.

I’m handing over to the brilliant Melissa Davey, who will keep bringing you the news this afternoon.

Let’s take a look back at what we learnt at this morning’s press conference with health minister Greg Hunt.

Hunt says it is unlikely Australia will follow the Netherlands and impose significant lockdowns to suppress surging Omicron infections.

Asked about the prospects of fresh statewide lockdowns given the new restrictions in the Netherlands, the federal health minister told reporters in Canberra the circumstances in Europe were quite different to Australia.

Read the full story from Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy.

Further to my last post, NSW police believe the missing swimmer is a 19-year-old man.

A PolAir helicopter crew and police divers have joined the search for a man who went missing while swimming at Lennox Head, New South Wales, on Friday.

Officers attached to Richmond police district were called to Seven Mile beach by a woman, who reported she’d seen a swimmer in difficulties in the surf about 6pm.

NSW police said officers were on site within minutes and immediately coordinated a search.

Personal belongings were found unattended on the beach near the surf club and, about 7pm, a man approached police at the scene with concerns that his 19-year-old son had not returned from a swim.

The search resumed at 6.30am.

One Twitter user wrote to me asking if we have any data on the number of Covid-19 cases in Victoria over time.

Thankfully Guardian Australia’s data team have pulled together this super helpful article with all the figures in one place for Australia as a whole, as well as the states with current outbreaks.

Health experts are urging Australians to wear face masks and opt for outdoor gatherings as Covid-19 infections continue to climb in the lead-up to Christmas.

Our friends at AAP have the story:

Infectious diseases pediatrician Robert Booy doesn’t expect infections to fall until February after an anticipated January peak fuelled by holiday travel.

“There are so many simple things we have been doing already that work that we can continue doing without too much fuss,” he told the Nine Network on Sunday.

“We don’t have to be locked down, but we can observe simple measures like masking indoors, like spending more time outdoors where it is ventilated, social distancing by a metre to two metres.”

Booy thinks QR codes should be continued or brought back to help control the spread and avoid a return to lockdowns.

“Even then, we can do things like a partial lockdown where people can get on with their lives, but they limit the amount of time in pubs, clubs, hotels and the like,” he said.

Brad Hazzard is asked about calls from the Australian Medical Association for NSW to reintroduce some restrictions, due to the state’s rapid rise in cases.

AMA president Omar Khorshid told ABC News yesterday: “It’s very bizarre timing from the New South Wales government to pull out a mask mandate just when you are seeing an incredible spike in cases that matches what’s happening around the world.”

Hazzard:

Look, again, the AMA, I ... respect their views, I have heard their views, particularly the federal AMA. But I have also heard a range of other epidemiologists and I get to see more when I want you TV programs at night. I will take the advice of New South Wales Health and weigh up all the other issues that we have to add ... At the moment I don’t seem to be, I don’t see any reason to jump down that path.

Health minister Brad Hazzard says the figures that come out of other countries are “not naturally analogous to our state”. But he says the state is on “high alert”:

At the moment the figures here are very low and so we are also looking at modelling that is coming from overseas. NSW is in a different position at the moment. We are in summer, so we are not seeing the huge uptake of what you would expect anyway of people, for a variety of other reasons other than just the ... variants we are dealing with at the moment. It is hard to distinguish or understand the full impact until we see more weeks of experience in what is going on here in New South Wales as to whether or not it is going to really lift our hospital intake or not. We are on high alert, as you would expect us to be.

Dominic Perrottet is asked what the downsides to mandating masks are, given that doctors and nurses are calling for this.

The premier says authorities “strongly encourage it” but won’t go so far as to issue a mandate, saying: “There’s always different views, there’s always different debates.”

He does suggest that mask mandates may be reintroduced in the future, especially as Australia heads into winter or as new variants emerge:

When we believe there’s evidence in front of us we need to potentially tighten restrictions we will. And it’s almost certainly as we move through, as we see overseas, as they head into the winter months, certain challenges will come our way. There will be curve balls, certain things we don’t expect. There’s almost certainly to be other variants that may come our way, and we’ll need to respond.

Reporter:

What will your threshold to reintroducing restrictions? What would it you take for you to do that?

Dominic Perrottet:

We’ll look at that. What is key to us as well is personal responsibility. And you know, we have mandated masks in high-risk settings. We strongly encourage the use of that. Everybody today is responding incredibly well. We monitor the situation.

ICU presentations are the key metric for us. We want to make sure that our health system has the capacity as we move through this next challenge of the pandemic. And I’m incredibly confident as premier that our health system is the strongest in the country. That we can deal with the challenges that come our way.

Health minister Brad Hazzard clarifies that NSW saw 57,000 booster shots given by state health facilities alone this last week. This is up from 15,000 doses the previous week:

By the end of January, we expect that 40% of all people who have been vaccinated … I think we were all hoping for a really good year next year. I think we can still hope for a good year next year. We need to get our booster shots and take the basic precautions. This virus is now this new variant, Omicron.

We can’t be sure we won’t have other variants along the way, but the basic rules apply. If you have symptoms, stay home. Don’t put your family and workmates at risk. If you have any symptoms, go and get tested. Maintain that social distancing and, of course, if you’re in close proximity to people inside and it’s a big group of people, consider wearing a mask.

We also have to live our lives in amore normal way coming into 2022. We’ll continue to strike the balance.

Dominic Perrottet adds that the NSW first-dose vaccination rate is now at 94.9% (it is unclear whether this is for those 16 and older, or those 12 and older).

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet is speaking, and is urging residents to get their booster shot, if eligible. More than 50,000 people in the last week came forward for it, he says:

We said vaccination is key to ensuring we’re able to open up as quickly as possible, as safely as possible. And to see so many people go out and receive that booster shot, particularly as we go into Christmas, has been incredibly pleasing.

We are standing by to hear from NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.

I’ll bring you the updates as we have them.

Finally, Greg Hunt is asked about data emerging from the UK health security agency that shows AstraZeneca is weak at preventing a symptomatic infection from Omicron (based on a very small sample size).

He is asked whether booster timeframes could, or should, be shortened for those who had the AstraZeneca vaccine:

There’s lots of information coming in. Much of it preliminary ... Our advice remains that all the vaccines provide clear and strong protection against serious illness and loss of life.

In terms of Omicron, there’s emerging data. I haven’t had any indication at this point in time of a vaccine-specific set of booster timeframes. So what we do is just as we’ve done with the TGA ... with Atagi, we encourage and really defend and protect their independence. And sometimes we’ll see others with a medical expert background or others with just a passing medical background give differing views. But by having the two outstanding bodies, one the regulatory agency, the other the vaccine advisory body, as strong and independent bodies that make their assessments, we get the best advice.

Greg Hunt said none of the states or territories have indicated that there will be changes to Covid-19 restrictions in the lead-up to Christmas or in 2022:

The direction of Australia is overwhelmingly towards opening up. Obviously, seven states and territories are now reunited and Western Australia has set their timeframe. So, it’s that direction towards opening up which has been set.

But Hunt acknowledged that “individual measures might be adjusted from time to time depending on circumstances”.

Federal minister Greg Hunt said that it is up to states to “make their own decisions” about whether to shorten the wait time between a second dose and a booster shot beyond the five months that Atagi has advised.

Guardian Australia reported yesterday that New South Wales health officials are considering breaking with commonwealth advice by shortening the Covid vaccine booster interval to four months, amid concern about spread of the Omicron variant.

Deputy chief medial officer Dr Sonya Bennett responds to a question about the UK view that there are two pandemics – Delta and Omicron:

We have always considered Omicron would be more transmissible ... It’s hard for both ourselves and even countries around the world to completely understand what proportion of their cases are Omicron versus Delta. There is a belief that the majority are Omicron in the UK. But it’s very difficult through testing to completely confirm that.

That just underscores the fact there’s still a lot of uncertainty about this particular variant ... we continue to watch all the emerging evidence and it will adjust as necessary ...

For us it’s about focusing on what we as a community can do now, whilst we enjoy that time with family and friends at Christmas. And it’s a combination of vaccination and those other measures that I mentioned, such as mask wearing and being Covid-safe.

Greg Hunt is asked whether there is going to be a problem with the booster rollout, given that a lot of GP clinics close over the Christmas period.

The journalist asks whether the states should ramp up their vaccination clinics to compensate.

The health minister says the system has shown it can “ramp up from 500,000 [doses] a week ... to now over1m in the last seven days”:

The second thing, though, is we [prepared] extremely large volumes of vaccines to cover the Christmas period, over 5m vaccines are in place, with another 2m-plus being expected to be delivered in the lead-up to Christmas and then in the days beyond. And then a third thing is that the states do have a very important role. We’ve been in contact with the states and territories, encouraging them to continue their state clinics.

Hunt adds that the role of pharmacies is also increasing, and that they’ve gone from administering 15,000 doses a day to more than 50,000 on weekdays.

Sonya Bennett seems to suggest that we should have mask mandates but doesn’t go so far as to call on the NSW government to reintroduce them.

Instead, she says that people should act before mandates come in:

I think we know mask mandates work. We know mandates work generally. But I think my plea to the community is we don’t need to wait for mandates to tell us what is sensible to do. That particularly applies to masks. They’re simple, we’re used to it. Most people around the country have worn masks at some stage. It’s a simple, easy, effective tool to continue to use when necessary. I ask the community to consider that they use that. That they make their own choice to use a mask when necessary.

Greg Hunt is asked whether, given the fact that the Netherlands is going into lockdown, there is a chance we’ll see more state-wide lockdowns in Australia.

The journalist also asks whether New South Wales will be prepared to bring back its mask mandate and QR codes?

Hunt says what is going on in the Netherlands is “quite different to Australia, as well as the fact they’re going into a cold European winter”:

In fact, they’re already there. But they’re going into the depths of winter with a vastly higher case rate and, sadly, having had a vastly higher loss of life. So a different country, different circumstances.

Sonya Bennett says that, despite Australia’s high vaccination rate, the rate of transmission for Omicron is still concerning.

She urges people to wear masks while doing their Christmas shopping:

It was really pleasing to see, you know, a large proportion of people still wearing masks. But probably not large enough. It’s a simple thing we can all do.

In saying that, she admits that she forgot to wear her mask at the shops:

I didn’t have it, but it reminded me that in the future I will certainly be taking a mask to anywhere that’s crowded, particularly around Christmas time, because it’s an effective, another effective layer of protection.

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Sonya Bennett says there is “there’s still a lot of uncertainty” surrounding Omicron, “particularly with respect to how severe we think Omicron might cause disease and various opinions”:

We are seeing rapid escalation of case numbers around the globe, particularly in the UK, with the UK recording over 90,000 cases yesterday. We are seeing case numbers rise here ourselves in New South Wales, particularly, with 2,500 cases, or thereabouts, yesterday as well. So, it is highly transmissible and appears to rapidly escalate with what’s called the doubling time of around two days. Which is obviously concerning.

Federal health minister Greg Hunt is speaking from Canberra.

Meanwhile, Victoria recorded 1,240 new Covid-19 cases, out of 76,033 tests.

The state reported that 392 patients have been hospitalised with the virus; of these 81 active cases are in the ICU, of whom 41 require ventilation.

Let’s take a closer look at those numbers coming out of NSW this morning.

The state recorded 2,566 new Covid-19 cases today, the highest daily total since the pandemic began.

Yesterday NSW recorded 2,482 cases, and 2,213 cases the day before.

An impressive 148,937 tests were administered across the state yesterday, as residents get tested before travelling interstate for Christmas.

The state also reported that 227 people are in NSW hospitals being treated for Covid-19, with 28 in intensive care.

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet will announce his new cabinet today.

Minister for water, property and housing Melinda Pavey said yesterday that the premier had told her she would not be continuing as a minister.

The cabinet also won’t include special minister of state Don Harwin, or local government minister Shelley Hancock who, as reported yesterday, both told the premier that they will step down, and won’t contest the next election.

Researchers working to improve the lives of people with chronic neurological conditions and brain cancer are among the scientists who may benefit from a $276.4m injection into medical research, AAP reports.

The government says the funding, drawn from the $20bn medical research future fund, will improve health outcomes for all Australians and tackle global health challenges.

The new funding rounds also include grants in maternal health and chronic respiratory conditions, as well as digital innovations in primary healthcare.

The government says the funding will support projects that benefit healthcare consumers by answering research questions that are more relevant and responsive to community needs.